This question is the foremost question of ethics because it is what joins or separates—depending on our answer—what is objectively good from what we subjectively feel compelled to pursue. Every person desires to be happy, and rightfully so (cf. Ps 4:7; Jn 16:24, Ps 16:11). However, real happiness does not lie on the other side of evil (cf. Rom 6:23).

This is where the Catholic Church becomes unpopular, for it reveals the depth of humanity’s fall. If we pursue happiness through what in fact engenders suffering, we seek our destruction and rejoice in it (cf. Prov 14:12).[1] This destruction disposes us to greater comfort with evil, creating conditions in which undesirable realities arise—both internal and external—and relationships at every level (with God, others, and ourselves) are degraded (cf. Jas 1:14–15).[2]

This raises the question of what constitutes real happiness—happiness that does not produce these absurdities yet makes one truly joyful and unburdened. I would argue, and the Church with me, that happiness is only true if found near to health and holiness. Thus, this pursuit may be divided into three subcategories derivative of, and analogous to, the transcendentals: truth, goodness, and beauty.[3] These correspond respectively to meaning (conformity to Christ), virtuous enjoyment, and satisfaction with Heaven, both in its poverty now and in eternal beatitude (cf. Mt 5:3–12; Jn 15:11).

I: Virtuous Enjoyment

We consider virtuous enjoyment first because it corresponds to the lowest level of happiness while still opening toward the highest. There is nothing wrong with pleasure so long as it is virtuous (cf. 1 Tim 6:17; Sir 14:21). Enjoyment, however, need not be superficial. It can and should be experienced in small ways through gratitude, a passion-driven life, and appreciation of small or immaterial rewards. [4]

Temperance moderates our engagement with goods by eliminating the suffering proper to a particular object: avoiding excess or consumption in inappropriate contexts that produce undesired consequences for example, debilitating hangover or tragedy due to debilitated judgment. Prudence applies this principle in practical decisions. For example, overindulging in dessert can lead to obesity, diabetes, sickness, and volatile blood sugar levels. Yet, if one limits quantity and frequency, making the experience special, the enjoyment is pursued for its own sake, not for a fleeting “high.” This principle extends to many other goods: mindful consideration of purpose, means, amount, and context ensures proper enjoyment.[5] Another point is this is what is so helpful about periodic fasting and feasting according to a calendar like the liturgical calendar.

Participation in the divine life represents the highest form of enjoyment. Prayer, awareness of God’s love and presence, and feelings of affection toward God are often unconditional experiences of joy, and are a storing up of treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). These constitute the well from which we draw “living water” (cf. Jn 4:13–14; Jn 7:38, Mt 5:6, Neh 8:10). Such experiences are goods in themselves—requiring no extrinsic reason beyond their own value—and can sustain us during anguish or sorrow (cf. 2 Cor 4:17–18).

Yet treating these consolations as a means to solve psychological problems or eliminate suffering is self-destructive and amounts to addiction. Good feelings do not change reality; good intentions do not make something good; and a good over there does not change the nature of what is in here. This belongs solely to God. Experiences of divine consolation sustain us precisely when higher forms of happiness demand suffering.[6]

Part II: Eternal Meaning

The second kind of happiness we examine is eternal, truthful meaning. This level has two subcategories: ego-aggrandizement and contribution or self-giving.

Ego-aggrandizement, at first glance, may appear merely self-centered; yet it is healthy if rooted in magnanimity.[7] We are lovable creatures, children of God, and we grow into this identity through holiness (cf. 1 Jn 3:1; Eph 2:10; Gn 1:26-31). Humility, properly understood, does not suppress true greatness, nor does it permit loving oneself before God or others. One must be well to love properly, but once wellness is achieved, one ought not to center oneself. Meaning emerges, therefore, through personal, goal-oriented greatness rather than comparative pursuit.

Contribution and self-giving represent the second subcategory, emphasizing generosity proper to greatness. As Scripture affirms, “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:25, 1 Pt 4:13). This principle illuminates why the purpose of masculinity extends beyond biology or mere strength: it is familial and sacramental. Priests, fathers, and spiritual leaders are called to protect human and divine good and exercise care in service to others, reflecting this truth.

In this context, proper self-love—loving oneself as created in God’s image—provides the foundation for authentic love of others (cf. Mt 22:39). Moral and spiritual development align the ego with God’s purposes rather than mere self-interest, transforming personal ambition into participation in divine goodness.[8]

Participation in God’s eternal narrative—creation, fall, redemption, and glorification—situates human action within a broader, cosmic meaning. The temporal and the eternal converge: every act, when ordered to God, possesses enduring significance. As Frankl observes, even in suffering, life maintains meaning through conscious engagement and ethical action.[9] The Catholic tradition adds that this meaning is given by God, revealed in Scripture and Tradition, and actualized through grace. [10]

Part IV: Satisfaction

Lastly, we consider satisfaction, the experience of fullness and well-being. Satisfaction, as the Council of Trent explains, is the general experience of lacking nothing.[11] We can encounter moments of this fullness on earth through the sacraments, in adoration, and in environments imbued with the presence of a loving Christian God (cf. Heb 10:24–25). Likewise, it is found in the companionship of discipleship and familial communion, where God is easily experienced.

These moments reflect the vision God intended “from the beginning” and point toward the even greater fullness to come—accomplished only by becoming what we were created to be in Christ (Is 58:11, Jn 17:5, Matthew 19:1-11, Ps 107:9). This fullness has a natural harmony, where one’s movements are received and reciprocated in perfect love. Integration, or integritas, is another characteristic of this category: not only individual health, but a dynamic wholeness amid all reality—within, around, and relating to oneself.

Moral purity is central here, for it aligns all aspects of the self with truth, goodness, and beauty, enabling this transcendental satisfaction. As St. Thomas teaches, perfect happiness requires the ultimate good, God Himself.[12] Psychological research similarly identifies integration and coherence as key components of life satisfaction.[13]

Satisfaction, therefore, is transcendental in nature: it combines the alignment of self, relationships, and purpose with divine communion. Even temporal experiences of satisfaction—through love, service, or sacramental participation—reflect the beatific vision, giving us a foretaste of eternal happiness. [10]

Conclusion: Integration and Intersection, the Path of the Joyful, Peaceful, and Self-Giving Christian

The Catholic understanding of happiness unites what the world has divided, for it orders all desires toward the good that alone can satisfy—the divine life of God Himself (cf. Jn 14:6; Ps 27:4). True happiness is not the indulgence of desire but its purification and redirection to the love of God and neighbor, for “love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom 13:10; cf. 1 Jn 4:20). In Christ, enjoyment becomes virtuous, meaning becomes self-gift, and satisfaction becomes communion, where truth, goodness, and beauty converge (Jn 15:11, Lk 24:52). Detached from God, each pursuit collapses into vanity; but in Him, they are integrated and elevated to eternal life.[6]

The Lord Jesus prayed “that all may be one… as we are one” (Jn 17:21–22), revealing that human happiness consists in communion, modeled upon Trinitarian love. Man, “who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.”[16] This self-gift is the perfection of ethics, for love fulfills what reason and virtue begin. As St. John Paul II teaches, “man cannot live without love; he remains incomprehensible to himself if love is not revealed to him.”[17] In the mystery of the Redemption, Christ “fully reveals man to himself,” restoring his dignity and giving back meaning to his life.[14] In this union, humanity’s restless heart finds its rest, echoing St. Augustine’s confession: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”[15]

Through the Cross, love transforms suffering into participation in divine life, giving joy its deepest form (Romans 5:3–5).[5] Thus, the end of all ethics is not merely to choose rightly but to become love, for in loving God and neighbor man becomes righteous and finds himself at rest in the One who is Love itself (1 Jn 4:8).

“For in His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps 16:11).

Written by Carter Carruthers

Footnotes

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, 2000), 1865.; Carter Carruthers, "Spiral of Sin", Vivat Agnus Dei, February 25, 2024.; Carter Carruthers, "The Source of All Sadness", Vivat Agnus Dei, January 24, 2021.; Carter Carruthers, "Confession: Why do we need it? How to do it?", Vivat Agnus Dei, July 5, 2020.; Carter Carruthers, "If God is truly all-loving, all-good, and all-powerful then why is their evil and suffering?", Vivat Agnus Dei, August 16, 2020.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, I-II, q. 5, a. 1, at New Advent, www.newadvent.org.; ST, I-II, q. 2, a. 8..
Carter Carruthers, "Gratitude, the Act of Reception", Vivat Agnus Dei, October 13, 2024.
ST, II-II, q. 141, a. 2.
CCC, 1521.
CCC, 1716, 1718-1721.
ST, II-II, q. 129.
ST, II-II, q. 58, a. 4.
Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning (Boston: Beacon Press, 1959/2006).
CCC, 1721.
Council of Trent, _Catechism of the council of trent for parish priests_ (1 January 1923), §296.
ST, I-II, q. 3, a. 8.
Some among many: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (New York: Harper & Row, 1990).; Barbara Fredrickson, "The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions," Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 359 (2004): 1367–78.; VanderWeele, Tyler J. “On the promotion of human flourishing.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America vol. 114,31 (2017): 8148-8156.; Michael F. Steger, "Meaning in Life," in Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology, 2nd ed., eds. C. R. Snyder and Shane J. Lopez (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).; Roy F. Baumeister et al., "Some Key Differences Between a Happy Life and a Meaningful Life," Journal of Positive Psychology 8, no. 6 (2013): 505–516. (Notes: It is true that seeking meaning involves suffering but according to a more balanced and magnanimous anthropology, without meaning happiness becomes unstable, I would argue).; Carol D. Ryff, “Happiness is Everything, or Is It? Explorations on the Meaning of Psychological Well-Being,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57, no. 6 (1989): 1069–1081. (Note in General: although psychology strains to define happiness well, faith seems to have a good idea of what it ought to be and psychology can try to argue against it cite the difficult of the pursuit of what faith recommends as undue or not showing empirical correlation. However, I would argue that insofar as the data points (broken persons) are subjective. This makes study-based psychology categorically fall short of answering the question what humanity is bound for or what the destination for the individual ought to be without first knowing it it means for humanity to not be broken as opposed to "normal" or "average". Since, those who truly pursue the absolute ideal are few and many who try give up or misapply principles, the only way psychology would give us the answer to such a question is to survey the saints rather than the sinners, for more see this: Carter Carruthers, "Where Psychology and Sociology Get It Wrong", Vivat Agnus Dei, February 4, 2024.)
CCC, 605, 1709.
St. Augustine, Confessions, I,1.
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church in the Modern World _Gaudium et spes_ (7 December 1965), §24.3.
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter on the Jesus Christ the Redeemer of Man _Redemptor hominis_ (4 March 1979), §10.

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Vivat Agnus Dei

What is Happiness?

I: Virtuous Enjoyment

Part II: Eternal Meaning

Part IV: Satisfaction

Conclusion: Integration and Intersection, the Path of the Joyful, Peaceful, and Self-Giving Christian

Footnotes

See also

**Rolling Stones, Satisfaction, 1965.:**

**Johnny Lee, Looking for Love, 1980.**

**G-Easy and Halsey, Him & I, 2017.**

**Starset, Dark things, 2025.**

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